I’ve been thrilled to feature Amanda Prowse, author of Anna: One Love Two Stories, here on Linda’s Book Bag many times (most recently here) and it gives me enormous pleasure to be reviewing her latest book today. I would like to thank the author for sending me a copy of Anna in return for an honest review.

Anna: One Love Two Stories will be released in e-book by Head of Zeus on 8th March 2018 and paperback later in the year and is available for pre-order here.

Anna will be followed by Theo available for pre-order here.

Anna: One LoveTwo Stories

There are two sides to every love story…

Anna Cole grew up in care, and wants to start a family of her own. Theo Montgomery had a loveless childhood, and wants to find his soulmate.

Then, one day, Theo meets Anna, and Anna meets Theo.

Each shows the other how to love. And each shows the other what heartbreak feels like…

This is Anna’s story.

My Review of Anna

Anna’s perfect childhood is about to implode.

I have always adored Amanda Prowse’s books and began to wonder if I was being over generous in my praise of them because I expect to love them. This time, before reading Anna I was determined to be stony hearted and absolutely dispassionate. Huh! That lasted about three pages before I was in tears and subsumed by the overwhelming emotion of the way Amanda Prowse writes. I have no idea how she does it, but she takes a reader’s hand and leads them into the most affecting and emotional world they can possibly imagine. Despite all my attempts to do otherwise, I just loved this book. I didn’t so much read it as live it.

Anna’s world may initially seem unusually tragic, but I have met the Anna’s of the world through my profession and her portrayal is so realistic. She is a true heroine of the modern age. I have no children of my own and don’t especially like children but Anna’s letters to her imagined children of the future left me reeling with emotion – just like all Amanda Prowse’s prose.

Apart from the fact that this is a magnificent story, with a brilliant plot, I think what appeals to me so much about Anna is the social elements. Amanda Prowse explores the way in which our paths can be altered by circumstance and fate and how we can be shaped or destroyed by those events. Through the pages of Anna we meet every echelon of society, realistically portrayed. I love the presentation of the need for identity, to belong and to have family – in whatever guise that may present itself, so that reading Anna feels like looking into the soul of humanity and understanding it better.

The way Anna develops as a person and her utter realism is brilliantly handled. I think it’s the realistic dialogue that really adds to the feeling that you’re not reading a book, but you’re a fly on the wall of real people’s lives. As I finished reading and put down Anna I felt drained, tearful and simultaneously impassioned. I am utterly desperate to know Theo’s side of the story and can’t wait to read about him in more depth.

Rather than feel I have overpraised Amanda Prowse’s writing in the past, reading Anna has left me feeling I have been inadequate in conveying what an emotional and skilful writer she is. Anna has invaded my heart and is lodged there permanently. I think Anna may be one of her best books yet.

About Amanda Prowse

Amanda Prowse is an International Bestselling author who has published sixteen novels in dozens of languages. Her chart topping No.1 titles What Have I Done?, Perfect Daughter and My Husband’s Wife have sold millions of copies around the world.

Other novels by Amanda Prowse include A Mother’s Story which won the coveted Sainsbury’s eBook of the year Award and Perfect Daughter that was selected as a World Book Night title in 2016. Amanda’s book The Food of Love went straight to No.1 in Literary Fiction when it was launched in the USA and she has been described by the Daily Mail as ‘The Queen of Drama’ for her ability to make the reader feel as if they were actually in the story.

You can follow Amanda Prowse on Twitter and visit her web site here. You will also find her on Facebook.

All of Amanda Prowse’s wonderful writing is available here .